Huong Xo
Huong Xo is a secretive Yheum cabal and one of the most influential crime syndicates in the galaxy. Known for its subtlety and discretion, few in the galaxy know more about Huong Xo than its mere existence but its reach is exceptionally wide and diverse. Though rumor of their dealings persist throughout the greater galaxy, the name "Huong Xo" has yet to be officially attached to any unlawful deed in any of the galaxy's many governmental bodies. For the most part, Huong Xo plays an antagonistic role throughout the series, as a primary antagonist in Hull Damage and a secondary one in Galactic Menace. Description Composed of ten anonymous members, Huong Xo retains the traditionally Yheum custom of rule – the rule of ten exceptional individuals, their individuality sacrificed to the greater good. Their name – "we ten" – is a term common enough on Yheuw, their homeworld, but has only found galactic prominence through the syndicate's broader activities. Their influence over the galaxy – and particularly the galactic underworld – is extensive. They're widely believed to have fingers in interplanetary smuggling and racketeering but their tendrils extend much further than that. Piracy, assassination, arms dealing, election-rigging, blackmail and all manner of illegal activity falls under their purview as well, making them one of the widest spread and most influential crime syndicates in the galaxy. A number of wealthy and influential companies and corporations across the galaxy are widely rumored to be nothing more than fronts from Huong Xo – GalaxCom Interstellar Media, BackDrift, Kiesha Laser Corp and many more. Their headquarters and members, rumored to be ten, are entirely unknown to the greater galaxy but, until his death in 5794, Quuilar Noxix was widely believed to be Xo's personal enforcer. Huong Xo's greatest asset, however, is unquestionably their anonymity. There remains precious little hard evidence to prove their existence, since they deal exclusively with middlemen and couriers. When communicating with those they employ, their holodecks were programmed to wipe themselves clean upon viewing, to erase any incriminating evidence they might contain. The Imperial Ministry of Interstellar Security, to this day, denies any knowledge of such an organization but whether this is because they don't posses sufficient evidence to prove a negative or whether they too have been paid off by the elusive Yheum crime cabal remains to be seen. HistoryCategory:CrimelordCategory:Yheum Founding and Early Years (? – 5736) Huong Xo's official founding date is unknown. Almost the syndicate's entire history is shrouded in mystery. The initial rumors about a galactically-influential Yheum cabal briefly circulated for the first time in 5736, following a political coup on Inapi. Those rumors, however, were abruptly silenced. For the next few decades, similar such rumors became increasingly common, with smugglers and pirates occasionally boasting about working remotely for some distant, wealthy and discreet power, only to promptly disappear themselves. Who Holds the Marionette? ''(5761) The name "Huong Xo" (literally "we ten" in Yheum) first surfaced in 5761 in a provocative piece of investigative journalism, ''Who Holds the Marionette?. Written by Ny Notec, a junior reporter for Space Times, the piece paints a vivid portrait of the Yheum crime syndicate, connecting the dots between many seemingly isolated incidents into one sinister web. Needless to say, Ny Notec was shortly never seen or heard from again, the article was purged from most major news sources but the damage was done – Huong Xo, overnight, became a household ghost story to the criminals of Bad Space. Conflict with Boss Ott (5792) Shortly before the events of Hull Damage, Huong Xo and Boss Ott, the Galactic Menace, found themselves at odds. In 5792, Xo contacted Ott about the potential of a business arrangement, needing a fleet of transport ships to move some contraband cargo through the wartorn Haliquant Quadrant. Ott provided the ships and, rather than pay even a nominal fee, Xo instead showered Ott with gifts, gifts he deemed somewhat unnecessary.Hull Damage, Chapter 12 This burgeoning dispute would eventually drag the crew of The Unconstant Lover into its crossfire. Hull Damage ''(5793) To supply Boss Ott with his first such gift – several containers of Triomman blood – Huong Xo hired Captain Nemo to attack an independent teamster, ''The Hourly Wage, ferrying medical supplies to Danboowui, and deliver them to Ott on Baz.Hull Damage, Chapter 2 Around this same time, the Galactic Menace dispatched one of his own pirates, Captain Dijiqi Taré of The Damn Shame, to raid Kiesha Laser Corp and make off with a squadron of prototype starfighters, a pet project of Huong Xo's. In retaliation, the Yheum crime cabal simply hired Nehel Morel again, ordering him to seek out Taré and destroy those prototypes before they could fall into the wrong hands. Once again, the Lover ''performed her task with flying colors. Shortly thereafter, of course, Nemo was converted to Boss Ott's cause and sent on another mission, this time aimed at Xo. Their target was Nabdres No-Cock, a gunrunning operative in Huong Xo's indirect employ, and his cargo of Halisdro assault rifles. When their former employee waylaid No-Cock on Haess and made off with his ship and its hold full of their merchandise''Hull Damage, Chapter 12, Xo responded to this act of betrayal by placing an enormous bounty on the heads of Nemo, his crewmates and his vessel.Hull Damage, Chapter 20 When ordinary bounty hunters proved ineffective at apprehending Nemo, Huong Xo dispatched Quuilar Noxix to bring the Lover's ''captain in.''Hull Damage, Chapter 24 When even Noxix failed to capture the slippery Nemo, Huong Xo faded into the background, devising a slower, more protracted approach to having their revenge upon the backstabbing captain. Galactic Menace (5795) As the Freebooter Fleet, with Captain Nemo at their head, grew and grew in popularity and influence, Huong Xo, still nursing their wounds, plotted their vengeances in an even more serpentine fashion. Their first attempt against Nemo's life came in the form of a failed reboot of Noxix's once-popular holoreality show. When Dusty Dimick, of Dusty Dimick Wants You Dead or Alive, ultimately failed in his attempt to disintegrate Nemo''Galactic Menace'', Chapter 16, Huong Xo changed tactics again. This time, they contacted disgraced smuggler Garrock Brondi and sent his old nemesis into Nemo's midst, to provoke the mercurial Captain into attacking a target too large for the Fleet to tackle.Galactic Menace, Chapter 25 Following a foolhardy wager, Huong Xo's complicated scheme went off without a hitch, Nemo pointing the entire Fleet against the Supreme Sovereignty of Trija and destroying them in the process.Galactic Menace, Chapter 26 Fall of the House of Xo (5797) Little did Huong Xo realize that, by opening the door to Garrock Brondi, they were ushering in their own destruction. In the years following the dissolution of the Freebooter Fleet, Huong Xo's assets and influences slowly began to wane. Many of the companies they'd once controlled were sold, went bankrupt or achieved some degree of independence. Many of the criminal enterprises they'd capitalized on evaporated under the galactic underworld's ever shifting conditions. Meanwhile, Garrock Brondi's power and influence grew and grew, sapping much of Xo's strength away from them and consolidating his own small smuggling empire for himself.Unconstant Love, Chapter 2 It was in 5797 that the final axe blow came. An unknown gangland beef was responsible for gunning down the ten members of Huong Xo, silencing their reign of terror forever. Curiously, none of the major crime syndicates operating at that time would take credit for the hit. References